Why do BA partner with AMEX?
 

I'm sure this will have been mentioned before but its madness that BRITISH airways partner with a card that's hardly accepted in BRITAIN. Surely Visa or MC would make much more sense. I have no intention what so ever in getting their AMEX card as I had AMEX before and got tired of being told "we don't accept that".

Just seems so odd.

I generally have no problem using my Amex in BRITAIN.

AMEX is pretty widely accepted in London which is the bulk of BA's market.

AMEX Customer Service is also leagues above other card issuers.

To answer your question the reason BA continues its association with AMEX is because IAG (a Spanish corporation, FYI) has an agreement with AMEX to offer credit card products for IAG airlines.

My experience is that AMERICAN Express is accepted pretty widely. All supermarkets, fuel stations, travel agents hotels and most decent restaurants and virtually all chain restaurants accept it. The main national chains which don't is B&Q. Its hit an miss in pubs and smaller/independent shops- I agree.

Where do you shop? In my experience I could use it at 95% of places I wanted to, I did the majority of my shopping online however and my local pub took it

I do agree with the original OP a bit. A lot of places in the UK outside of London won't take AMEX. Unlike the states where Everyone takes AMEX.

I still often visit restaurants and stores that won't take AMEX which is why I keep my Lloyds card in my wallet also which is AMEX/MC as a back up for when that place does not take AMEX.

It's accepted in most National retailers and almost everywhere else across the globe. All my local pubs and restaurants accept it.

The reason is because both parties mutually benefit from the arrangement.

Visa or MC might not make as much sense, for either BA or the card issuer. The uptake would be lower, that's for sure (because the earning rate would be a lot lower, particularly in light of recent capping of interchange rates).

And I agree with the majority. I have minimal trouble using my Amex across the whole country. I would estimate I have to use a Visa or MC maybe, once a month (out of hundreds of transactions)?

I only have come across places in London where I couldn't use my contactless AMEX "contactless", I had to just chip and pin so no real issue there.
Also, AMEX has been an established entity in travel bookings, corporate travel and insurance so that helps.

It's accepted more and more now - I can get spend to £10-15,000 a month usally (Work) as lots of major merchants accept it. More often than not I get around those that don't online through PayPal..

I live in Scotland and find a LOT of places won't take it. Any local shops, coffee shops, independent restaurants all don't take it.

Sure big chains (McDonalds etc) do take it. But many local places do not.

Just seems a bit mad they would partner with a CC not widely (certainly compared to VISA and MC) accepted.

... I did have to provide a lot more "evidence" when making a Qatar booking recently on my Amex. Is this usual ?

I've never had a problem having my Amex accepted, except in Caffe Nero for some reason? Amex cards usually have higher earning rates than MC/VISA so I don't mind having to put up with the very few places where it's not taken.

It is quite hard to predict Amex acceptance, although in broad brush terms, most large chains (major supermarkets, department stores, restaurants, etc.) will accept it; and often smaller shops or non-chain restaurants will not.

But there are a few dynamics which make this broad categorisation more interesting and at times misleading:

1) Quite a few of we think of as 'chains' are actually franchises or otherwise federated, and in many of these it is hit and miss whether it is accepted or not. For example, I've found some branches of Costa don't accept it; a surprising number of petrol stations don't either.

2) A large number of smaller shops are using iPad-based point of sale systems such as Square. These do support Amex, and I've been able to use it at some really very small places that I had not expected to manage.

Yes, I've come across this quite a lot (even when contactless works for other cards). No idea why this is, I'd have thought it would work the same for all contactless cards?

Think you need to bring yourself up to date on AMEX.

I struggle to think of any transaction using plastic I make these days that isn't AMEX.

The local takeaway and the butcher are exceptions, but everything else....Supermarkets (fuel, shopping) and pretty much all chain or department stores take AMEX.

The only place that won't take it that I sorely wish did, is HMRC :(